Michael K. Lee, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Neuroscience. An international leader in his field, Dr. Lee studies the mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases using transgenic mouse models – or models that mimic the disease. Lee and his team seek to understand how neurons die in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease and then develop ways to stop the conditions. In the Parkinson's mouse model, the group studies how abnormal alpha-synuclein (a protein abundant in brain) causes neurons to die and ways to slow this process. In the Alzheimer's mouse model, Lee and his team study how senile plaques (protein clumps) that are linked with Alzheimer's cause selected neurons to die.